In Sickness and in Health
by sanumarox123
Summary: AU / She's sick and he's there, as always. He stumbles in the door, arms full of movies and things that will make her feel better and she can't help but want to kiss him (and she would, if she wasn't such a coward and sick). But, maybe this one time, getting sick isn't the worst. After all, it could start something new. \ Pure fluffy Caskett.


**a/n: I planned on not writing again for few weeks. I swear I did. But I have high school orientation and a stupid pool party to go to tomorrow, and Lea asked me to write this yesterday…**

**Lea, enjoy. Don't blow up my notifications on twitter like last time though. Luh ya! **

**prompt: ****translated from the amount of words lea put in one hashtag, it said:**_** 'you can do one about castle and beckett and beckett calls castle and asks him to bring soup bc she's sick and it turns out he's sick too and they cuddle up in bed'. **_

**I'M SORRY BUT SICK RICK JUST DIDN'T FIT IN HERE LEA, SO PLEASE EXCUSE THIS SORRY EXCUSE OF A FIC.**

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**Disclaimer: I don't own Castle. Or anything else. Just my computer. Or Kate's bedroom. Which, by the way, excuse my total wrong description of it. Please. It's horrible and I can't deal with making myself fix it when I'm so close to feeling like throwing up myself.**

**Spoilers: none, but this is based before Always. Slight AU.**

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The day starts out badly from the get-go.

Kate wakes up from a good dream (which, as usual, involves Castle) to feel her dinner coming up from her stomach. Barely making it to the bathroom in time, she rests her head against the toilet seat heavily, taking deep breaths and trying to calm her heartbeat. Getting up, she moves slowly to the sink, and looks at herself in the mirror. Her face is pale and drawn. The shadows under her eyes are more prominent than usual, and she racks a hand through her hair (which just makes it worse).

Rinsing her mouth once, twice, she shuffles into her bedroom and sits down on the unmade bed, trying to ignore the feeling in her stomach that won't go away. She takes her phone and dials the precinct, hearing it ring. She drags her foot through the rug and looks at the digital clock on the table. It's 10 o'clock.

Espo picks up, and she croaks out, "'Spo, I'm sick." Her throat is hurting so bad she can't say anymore.

He chuckles slightly at her obvious statement and says, "I can hear that. Take the day off. Or as many as you want. Just get better."

She smiles slightly at his statement and whispers a thanks, hanging up. She struggles out of her constricting tank top and finds a loose shirt from the pile next to her bed, and gets up to go to her kitchen.

She desperately needs coffee, but she ran out of her stash (the good kind), and Castle isn't there to supply her with any. Actually… she's run out of all food sources. So she calls him, setting some tea up in the meantime, waits for him to pick up. He does after four rings, his deep voice even deeper as it is still infused with sleep.

"Hello?" he manages out, and she's struck speechless, remembering his voice and his face and exactly _where _his face in the dream. He asks again, and she's brought out of her silence, and sits down. Her throat is sore and her head is hurting, and the world is becoming dizzy again.

"Hey, Castle." she manages out, her voice filled with both exhaustion, and slight arousal that she hopes he can't hear. It hurts just to say that, and her stomach gurgles and that bad feeling in her stomach is back, and she rushes to the bathroom, her phone still in her hand.

She fumbles with the toilet seat in one hand and pressing end on her phone with the other as she retches. When she's done, she sits on the ground, and only yanks her head up when Castle says,

"Kate… are you sick?"

She can't say anything, and he states, "You're sick. Okay. I'm coming over there."

She starts to say no, but before she can, he interrupts. "Katherine Beckett. You are sick. Last time I saw, you had no food or coffee, and barely any tea left in your kitchen. You need proper nourishment-" He pauses for a second and something rustles, and then he continues, "And I am coming over there with soup and movies to watch while you get better."

She nods, and then remembering he can't see her, mumbles, "Kay." and sits back against the wall.

He hangs up with a, "See you in fifteen." and, stupidly, she starts to focus on how she looks like, because he's _Rick Castle _and _her favorite author _and even though he's been through hell and back with her and seen her at her worst, he's still really hot and she loves him.

So, she manages to look somewhat presentable and waddle to the living room, where she sits and waits for him.

Ten minutes later, he barges in the door, hands full of everything from Advil (boxes and boxes of it), to blankets (what…), to three cases of soup.

Her favorite, nonetheless. Once again, as she sits on the couch, looking like shit, she's struck with the weirdest sense of nostalgia, because there's this man who remembers _everything _about her and is the sweetest when it counts, and is also a great father, and he chose to care for _her. _Her, Kate Beckett, _her._

And he stumbles in the door, arms full of movies and things that will make her feel better and she can't help but want to kiss him (and she would, if she wasn't such a coward and sick).

He plops the resources down next to her, and in a daze, watches as he takes the tea off that she forgot about, and start to make soup. Taking over her kitchen like he did with her life four years ago.

Halfway through a sentence, he looks at her, and walks over, brushing a stray curl (oh, her stupid curly hair.) from in front of her eyes, and asks gently, "How are you feeling, Kate?"

(Oh, how she loves it when he calls her Kate.)

She shrugs, and he sits down next to her, pushing the stuff out of the way. (What the hell is a baby bottle doing in that mountain?!) Taking her hands into his, curling his fingers around hers, he looks at her intently.

Like he's reading her soul.

Which he probably is.

(That's what he does all the time, anyway.)

She sniffles, trying to clear her sinus, and he hands her a tissue, which she blows her nose in. He takes it from her hand, ignoring her protests, and throws it out.

"I'm going to make some soup for us. You sift through the DVD's and find one you like, and then we'll watch that, okay?"

He gets up, kissing her forehead gently, and she's reminded again of how lucky she is.

He busies himself around the kitchen, and she finds _Freaky Friday _to watch. He sets her soup down in front of her, and then puts the DVD into the TV.

She's feeling extremely tired, and lonely, and suddenly he's _right there, _taking up her space like he always does, and she finally feels safe.

(And loved.)

Halfway through the movie, she has to get up and throw up, and he holds her hair back and caresses her face during it, not showing the slightest hint of disgust.

He must have done this with Alexis, she thinks as she leans into him. They sit on the cold floor for what seems to be an hour, and then when she finally feels better, he picks her up like she weighs nothing, and carries her back to the couch. He prepares another cup of tea for her, and she grows sleepy, listening to his breathing, soothing her.

At around 5pm, he takes her temperature, and nudges her awake. Her temperature has gone down from 102 to 100, which is better. So much better. She nods sleepily to let him know she heard him, and snuggles back into his side. He's so warm, and she's so cold, and he lets her. He wraps an arm around her and turns the TV back on, and she falls asleep again to the buzzing of the television in her background, and the man she loves next to her, taking care of her.

Her soup has gone cold by the time she wakes up the third time, and she realizes that Castle is asleep as well. He snores a little time to time, and she watches him, not enough to be creepy but enough to show her affection (although he's not awake to see it).

He covered them with a blanket while she was asleep, she realizes, and she snuggles even closer to him (they're practically on top of each other; their legs entangled and his chin resting on her head).

It is nighttime the next time she wakes up, and her sore throat is gone. Her head still spins and her sinus is still clogged up, but she doesn't feel like she has to throw up. She feels a hand running through her hair and a silent kiss being pressed to the top of her head and she smiles.

"You up, sweetie?" The endearment slips from his mouth and she tenses for a second before relaxing.

Nuzzling his hand, she whispers, "Yes." and kisses the palm of his hand.

She feels him grin, and she pokes him before giggling slightly.

They fall into a comfortable silence, listening to each other breathe, and the sound of traffic outside.

He sits up suddenly, and scoots her over so he can put his feet on the ground.

(She has so many innuendos she can say about the size of his feet, but doesn't say anything.)

When he gets up, she feels a sudden apprehension that he's going to leave, that he's going to _leave her_ (even if it's only for the night) until,

"Well, it looks like it's ten o'clock. I feel like it's bedtime for the patient." He teases her, and she laughs slightly.

He grabs her hand and brings her up into a standing position, and she hugs him. Her stomach is better, and the rest will heal after time.

He hugs her back, and murmurs, "Go get ready for bed. I'll sleep here on the couch."

She looks up at him, and the worried expression on his face, and shakes her head, coming to a decision.

"No." she states, and he stares at her.

"You want me to leave?" he asks, and she almost laughs at how guileless he is at times.

"No, silly. Come to bed with me." The words sound wrong as soon as she lets them out, but his eyes relax and it's worth it.

He nods, taking in the probably determined expression she wears on her face and tugs her hand.

"Lead the way."

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It is hours later, when she wakes up for the fourth time that day/night, his arm tightly weld across her stomach, that she dares to think about how this could be her future. _Their _future.

And when morning comes, and she's better, and he's moaning and telling her to come back to bed, tugging her back, his large hand splaying on her front, that is when she realizes what she's been missing out on.

She leans down, and kisses him, knowing he won't care that she might still have germs.

Maybe this one time, getting sick wasn't that bad.

After all, it started something new.

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**I'M SO SORRY THIS GOT CARRIED AWAY IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A MINUMUM OF LIKE 800 WORDS BUT WOAH OVER 2000 IDEK WHAT HAPPENED.**

**I LOVE YOU ALL AND I'M PROBABLY GOING TO BE AWAY FOR THE NEXT WEEK OR SO, GETTING READY FOR HIGH SCHOOL (oh no!) and all that crap. **

**this was so fun omfg. i love fluffy!caskett.**

**DID YOU ALL SEE STANA'S ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE THINGY WITH JON AND SEAMUS LAST NIGHT?**

**best. thing. ever.**

**okay i'm gonna shut up now.**

**I hope y'all enjoyed. **


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